Typography plays a huge role in developing a strong brand identity and a solid first impression. Different fonts convey different messages.

Fonts can be divided into roughly five categories: Serif, Sans-serif, Slab serif, Script and Modern.

So how do you know how to pick the right font for your brand?

I’ll explain below.

Associations: authority, tradition, respect, and grandeur

Top 5: Times New Roman, Bodini, Georgia, Garamond and Baskerville.

Popular serif logos: Time Magazine, Gap, Yale, and The New York Times

When to use: On your resume, in the body text of an editorial, or when you want to give your research paper that extra assurance of success.

When not to use: on your child’s birthday party invitations, as the heading for your health and beauty blog, or anytime you are out of the office, newsroom or university really…

My recommendation: Use Baskerville in the body text of your next publication. Studies show that people are most likely to agree with a statement when it is presented in Baskerville.

Associations: clean, modern, objective, stable, and universal

Top 5: Helvetica, Verdana, Arial, Century Gothic, and Calibri

Popular Sans-serif logos: Microsoft, Evian, Chanel, and Nike

When to use: as your corporate presentation header text, for extremely small body text (sans-serif fonts are more legible from far away), when you want to emphasise a single word, and as the body text on your website (sans-serif fonts are more legible than serif fonts when read on a computer screen).

When not to use: There are very few instances in which it is not okay to use a sans-serif font. These mainly pertain to whether the text is read on screen or on paper. If you are unsure which font to choose, a Sans-serif may be your best bet.

My advice: You can’t go wrong with Century Gothic. When in doubt, this chic font will always pull through for your brand. Use it as header text for your next report and pair it with Adobe Garamond Pro for the body text.

Associations: Bold, Strong, Modern, Solid, and Funky

Top 5: Rockwell, Courier, Museo, Clarendon and Bevan

Popular Slab serif logos: I ♥ NY logo, Volvo, Honda and Sony

When to use: on your next billboard ad, when printing on poor quality paper (slab serif fonts are known to be most legible in cases of poor quality printing), and when you want to attract attention in general

When not to use: on your afternoon tea invitation or in the body text on your website.

My advice: Download Josefin Slab from googlewebfonts.com. It has typewriter style attributes and a geometric elegance that will turn any header’s frown upside down.

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The words “font” and “typeface” are used interchangeably these days. There is a distinction though. A typeface is a design for letterforms. A font is the implementation of a complete character set of one typeface, weight and style. Palatino is a typeface. The Palatino type family is made of of many different fonts, i.e., Palatino Roman, Palatino Bold, Palatino Bold Italic, etc.